The balance of Hungarian agricultural foreign trade deteriorated in 2025: export value decreased, imports increased

Turnover increased in price, volume decreased

Turnover decreased in quantity: the volume index of exports decreased by 12%, that of imports by 9.2%. At the same time, the export price index increased by 8.2%, and the import price index by 4.4%. The terms of trade indicator was 1.04, meaning that the terms of trade improved in 2025. The share of agricultural exports in total national economy exports increased to 9.1% (an increase of 0.5 percentage points), while the share of agricultural imports was 7.3% (7.2% in 2024).

Export: edible preparations and meat up, grain fell sharply

Out of the 24 agricultural and food product groups, the export value increased in 14 in 2025. The largest increase was in “various edible preparations” (KN21) (+107.1 million euros), primarily with an increase in the export value of coffee and tea. The export value of meat products (KN02) increased by 97.8 million euros. The export revenue of animal and vegetable fats and oils (KN15) also increased: by EUR 71.2 million to EUR 996 million. The export value of animal feed (KN23) increased by EUR 54.7 million.

The biggest decline was suffered by cereals (KN10): the export value decreased by EUR 478.3 million (28.3%) to EUR 1,213.6 million, mainly due to the weaker performance of wheat and maize. The export revenue of vegetable and fruit products (KN20) was 47.2 million euros lower than the previous year.

Imports: cocoa products and fruit increased, sugar decreased

On the import side, the import value increased in 17 product groups. The largest increase was shown by cocoa products (KN18) (+117.8 million euros). The import value of fruits (KN08) increased by 67.3 million euros. The import value of oilseeds (KN12) also increased (+62.5 million euros, to 483.8 million euros), as did imports of dairy products, eggs, honey (KN04) (+62.2 million euros, to 773.7 million euros). The import value of coffee, tea, spices (KN09) increased by 58.5 million euros, that of cereals (KN10) by 58.4 million euros, and that of fats and oils (KN15) by 52.8 million euros. The largest decrease was in the import value of sugar and confectionery (CN17) (-90.2 million euros).

Concentrated structure: 10–10 commodity groups account for the bulk of turnover

76% of the value of Hungarian agricultural exports and 67% of imports were accounted for by 10–10 commodity groups. On the export side, the five largest commodity groups (animal feed, meat, cereals, various edible preparations, beverages-spirits-vinegar) covered 49% of total agricultural exports. On the import side, the five largest items (animal feed, various edible preparations, confectionery products, dairy products-eggs-honey, meat products) accounted for 40% of total imports.

According to the report, the foreign trade balance of 11 commodity groups will be in negative territory in 2025. Cereals continued to account for the largest share of the total agricultural asset (27%), while animal feed, beverages, spirits and vinegar, meat, and animal and vegetable fats and oils contributed with a share of 17–24%.

Processing: the weight of finished products in exports is increasing

Within exports, the share of highly processed products increased to 45% in 2025 (it expanded to over 41% in 2023 and increased further in 2024). The share of unprocessed products was 22% in the year under review, which is lower than in previous years; The change is due to a decrease in the export value of agricultural raw materials and an increase in the export of processed products.

EU focus: more than 86% of agricultural trade took place with EU partners

86.2% of Hungarian agricultural foreign trade turnover was linked to EU countries in 2025. The value of exports to the EU was 10,945 million euros, while imports were 9,324 million euros. The largest export markets were Germany (1,621 million euros), Italy (1,557 million euros), Romania (1,519 million euros), Austria (1,069 million euros) and Latvia (1,069 million euros).